OUCH! Free Content gets hurt by enabled Ad Blockers

I am just trying to catch up on some reading, but what I just read in your Letters section from Chris Barry of Toronto in your Dec. 14, 2001 issue (“Freedom in the eye of beholder”, pg. 15) is a bit scary.

Chris sounds like the Liberal propaganda machine. Perhaps he should realize that the new anti-terrorist/security laws have added nothing new that couldn’t already be acted on, and have only added rather sweeping police-state powers. Might he change his tune if he ever “mistakenly” gets caught up in this new machinery? After all, if he is locked away for a few weeks without due process for his own and his neighbour’s protection, is it worth the price? When a supposedly free country can be reduced to a police state, that should be a clear indication that the terrorists have won.

Chris’ attitude shows that he has not learned from history. Unfortunately, if too many people share that attitude, it will affect the rest of us rather negatively. I am willing to bet that Chris could one day be repeating history by saying “One day, they came for all the , but I wasn’t one, so I didn’t say anything.” If not, I suspect he’ll be complaining when one day, the government decides it’s time to crack down on his favourite activity, for no legitimate reason. Perhaps it’s time to relearn what Freedom, Security, Responsibility and Liberty really mean. The first step is to realize that rights are inalienable and not granted by government. Rather, it is the government whose privileges are granted by the governed.